Bombardier, together with consortium partners, delivered a full turnkey system for Metro do Porto

Metro do Porto is one of this year’s winners of the prestigious Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. The prize recognises the infrastructure project’s positive contribution to the world heritage city of Porto and the quality of life of its people by connecting previously segregated communities.

Together with consortium partners, rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation was responsible for the delivery of a full turnkey light rail system for Metro do Porto. This included the manufacture of more than 100 BOMBARDIER FLEXITY light rail vehicles, project management, in-house design, installation and commissioning of a BOMBARDIER CITYFLO 250 rail control solution.

The system, in operation since 2002, connects seven municipalities in the metropolitan area of Porto and interconnects with the city's bus and railway networks. It transports approximately 55 million passengers annually, a number that has grown steadily year on year. The system has four lines, totalling 70 km with 63 overground and 14 underground stations. It combines mixed traffic (road and rail) sections, separate full signalling sections with 7 km of tunnels and single line sections equipped with passing loops and block signalling. 72 FLEXITY 100 per cent low-floor trams and 30 FLEXITY light rail vehicles provide a total capacity of more than 20,000 passengers per hour per direction.

The future success of urban centres rests on re-defining the way people move within and between these expanding social and economic hubs. In order to sustain economic growth while ensuring the health and quality of life of citizens, cities all over the world are looking for smarter and more environmentally friendly forms of mass transit compared to the historic dependence on individual car transportation.

Bombardier is at the forefront of developing cost-effective technologies that improve total vehicle performance to move more people and goods than ever before efficiently within and between urban centres. The modes of seamless urban transportation developed by Bombardier include trams, metros and innovative electric mobility solutions for electric rail and road vehicles, while its state-of-the-art rail control solutions reduce the constraints of current networks.

About the Prize

The Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design is the foremost award recognizing achievement in this field. The award was established in 1986 on the occasion of Harvard University’s 350th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Nominations for the prize are received from an extensive network of academics and urban design professionals.

The prize is awarded biennially to recognize exemplary urban design projects. Projects must be more than one building or an open space built anywhere in the world within the last 10 years or so that makes a positive contribution to the public realm of a city and improves the quality of urban life in that context. The project must also demonstrate a humane and worthwhile direction for the design of urban environments.

About Bombardier

Bombardier is the world’s only manufacturer of both planes and trains. Looking far ahead while delivering today, Bombardier is evolving mobility worldwide by answering the call for more efficient, sustainable and enjoyable transportation everywhere. Our vehicles, services and, most of all, our employees are what make us a global leader in transportation.

Bombardier is headquartered in Montréal, Canada. Our shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (BBD) and we are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America Indexes. In the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, we posted revenues of $16.8 billion. News and information are available at bombardier.com or follow us on Twitter @Bombardier.

Notes to Editors

For more information about our CSR performance and how we are delivering product innovation, visit our website www.csr.bombardier.com.